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Eastern Platinum Limited Reports Results For The First Quarter Of 2022

Published: 2022-05-13 09:45:41 ET
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EASTERN PLATINUM LIMITED
(Incorporated in Canada)
(Canadian Registration number BC0722783)
(South African Registration number 2007/006318/10)
Share Code TSX: ELR ISIN: CA2768555096
Share Code JSE: EPS ISIN: CA2768555096
(“Eastplats” or the “Company”)

May 13, 2022
Trading Symbol: ELR (TSX); EPS (JSE)

                                        NEWS RELEASE

    EASTERN PLATINUM LIMITED REPORTS RESULTS FOR THE FIRST QUARTER OF 2022

May 13, 2022, Vancouver, British Columbia – Eastern Platinum Limited (“Eastplats” or the
“Company”) is pleased to report that it has filed its condensed interim consolidated financial
statements for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and the corresponding management’s
discussion and analysis. Below is a summary of the Company’s financial results for the first
quarter of 2022 (“Q1 2022”) (all amounts in USD unless specified) in comparison to the same
respective period in 2021 (“Q1 2021”):

-      Revenue for Q1 2022 increased to $17.4 million (Q1 2021 - $16.7 million), representing a
       4.3% increase. The increase in revenue for Q1 2022 was primarily due to an increase in
       platinum group metal (“PGM”) sales in the period.

-      Mine operating income increased by $2.0 million (or 137.5%) to $3.4 million in Q1 2022 (Q1
       2021 - $1.4 million), resulting in an improved gross margin of 19.6% in Q1 2022 from 8.6%
       in Q1 2021.

-      Operating income was $0.1 million in Q1 2022 compared to an operating loss of $1.7 million
       in Q1 2021.

-      Net income attributable to shareholders was $3.0 million ($0.02 earnings per share) in Q1
       2022 versus loss attributable to shareholders of $0.9 million ($0.01 loss per share) in Q1
       2021. The Q1 2022 net income was largely attributable to the foreign exchange gain due to
       the appreciation of the South African Rand relative to the U.S. Dollar in Q1 2022, while in
       Q1 2021, the U.S. Dollar strengthened.

-      The Company had positive working capital (current assets less current liabilities) of $17.2
       million as at March 31, 2022 (December 31, 2021 - $14.6 million) and short-term cash
       resources of $6.6 million (consisting of cash, cash equivalents and short-term investments)
       (December 31, 2021 - $6.1 million).

Operations

The Company continues its Retreatment Project at Barplats Mines (Pty) Limited’s tailings facility
(the “Retreatment Project”) located at the Company’s Crocodile River Mine (“CRM”) in South
Africa.
Summary of chrome production for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and March 31, 2021:

                          Q1 2022           Q1 2021
    Total Tailings
                          574,242            607,606
    Feed (Tons)
    Average grade
                          38.97%             38.47%
    Cr concentrate
    Tons of Cr
                          121,122            203,901
    concentrate

The majority of the Company’s revenue (approximately 84% for Q1 2022) is generated from the
offtake agreement with Union Goal Offshore Solution Limited (“Union Goal”) in relation to chrome
concentrate production from the Retreatment Project. The remaining amount of the Company’s
revenue was from PGM concentrate sales to Impala Platinum Limited (“Impala”).

The completion of the reconfiguration and optimization of the small-scale PGM circuit (“PGM
Circuit D”) in Q1 2021 continued to successfully utilize the feed, following the recovery of chrome
concentrate, to produce PGM concentrate under the respective offtake agreements in Q1 2022.
Refurbishment work commenced on the PGM main plant circuit (“PGM Main Circuit B”) during
April 2021 and the circuit was commissioned in October 2021 (see press release of October 29,
2021 for further information). PGM Circuit D and PGM Main Circuit B (collectively, the “PGM
Circuits”) are both operating and continue to drive revenue growth and gross margin
improvement for the Company.

Summary of PGM production for the three months ended March 31, 2022 and 2021:

                          Q1 2022           Q1 2021
    Tons of PGM
                            879                 44
    concentrate

During the period, the Company continued work to close the Maroelabult resource project sale
with Eland Platinum (Pty) Limited. Eastplats announced the completion of the sale (see press
release of March 22, 2022 for further information). Total cash consideration of R20 million
(approximately $1.3 million) was received on March 9, 2022 after the transfer of legal title and
various regulatory obligations required in South Africa were completed.

Diana Hu, President, Chief Executive Officer, and Director of Eastplats commented, “The Q1
financial results have shown the Company is on the right path to continue its revenue growth and
profitability improvements from the Retreatment Project and capacity increases from the PGM
circuits. We are confident with the progress made by the team and expect to disclose the updated
NI 43-101 compliant independent technical report on the Crocodile River Mine shortly.”

Outlook

The Company’s targets for 2022 are as follows:

-       Optimize the operations of the Retreatment Project and maximize returns (ongoing)
        -    Completion of the Optimization Program for the Retreatment Project (ongoing);
        -    Assess the value of the chrome recovery plant after optimization (ongoing);

-       Operate and optimize the PGM Circuits (ongoing);
-    Capital raise to restart Zandfontein underground operations at the Crocodile River Mine
     (initiated);

-    Completion of the second phase of the tailings storage facility (“TSF”) capital works program
     (ongoing);

-    Mareesburg project environmental work to complete the legal analysis on the Environmental
     Impact Assessment (“EIA”) and other environmental studies and amendments (ongoing);

-    Prospecting and assessment work in relation to Zandfontein, Crocette and Spitzkop ore
     bodies (ongoing);

-    EIA and other assessment work regarding a vertical furnace and pelletizer of chrome
     concentrate (ongoing); and

-    Update other capital assessments upon completion of capital fundraising.

Care and maintenance with respect to the underground portion of the CRM will continue while the
Company assesses the Zandfontein underground operations for restart.

The Company has a primary listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on
the JSE Limited.

The Company has filed the following documents, under the Company’s profile on SEDAR at
www.sedar.com:

-    Condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended March 31,
     2022; and
-    Management’s discussion and analysis for the three months ended March 31, 2022.

The condensed interim consolidated financial statements for the three months ended
March 31, 2022 are available for download at https://eastplats.com/investors-2/reports/ and are
also           available         on         the            JSE’s          website            at:
https://senspdf.jse.co.za/documents/2022/JSE/ISSE/EPS/Q122.pdf.

Covid-19

The Government of South Africa lifted the National State of Disaster in response to the COVID-
19 pandemic on April 5, 2022. The Company continues to follow the health guidelines of the
Government of South Africa. The chrome and PGM production and delivery remains in full
operation. The effects of COVID-19 are uncertain and the consequences of a further temporary
shutdown of any operations or other related issues cannot be reasonably estimated at this time
but could potentially have material adverse effects on the Company’s business, operations,
liquidity and cashflows.
About Eastern Platinum Limited

Eastplats owns directly and indirectly a number of PGM and chrome assets in the Republic of
South Africa. All of the Company’s properties are situated on the western and eastern limbs of
the Bushveld Complex, the geological environment that hosts approximately 80% of the world’s
PGM-bearing ore.

Operations at the Crocodile River Mine currently include re-mining and processing its tailings
resource to produce PGM and chrome concentrates from the Barplats Zandfontein tailings dam.


For further information, please contact:
EASTERN PLATINUM LIMITED
Wylie Hui, Chief Financial Officer and Corporate Secretary
whui@eastplats.com (email)
(604) 800-8200 (phone)

Cautionary Statement Regarding Forward-Looking Information

This press release contains “forward-looking statements” or “forward-looking information” (collectively referred to herein
as “forward-looking statements”) within the meaning of applicable securities legislation. Such forward-looking
statements include, without limitation, forecasts, estimates, expectations and objectives for future operations that are
subject to a number of assumptions, risks and uncertainties, many of which are beyond the control of the Company.
Forward-looking statements are statements that are not historical facts and are generally, but not always, identified by
the words “will”, “plan”, “intends”, “may”, “could”, “expects”, “anticipates” and similar expressions. Further disclosure of
the risks and uncertainties facing the Company and other forward-looking statements are discussed in the Company’s
most recent Annual Information Form available under the Company’s profile on www.sedar.com.

In particular, this press release contains, without limitation, forward-looking statements pertaining to: profitability;
revenue growth and gross margin improvements derived from the PGM Circuits; completion of the updated NI 43-101
compliant independent technical report on the CRM; the Company’s targets for 2022 including optimization of the
Retreatment Project operations; completion of the Optimization Program for the Retreatment Project, assessment of
the value of the chrome recovery plant; operations and optimization of the PGM Circuits; capital raise to restart
Zandfontein underground operations at the Crocodile River mine; completion of the second phase of the TSF capital
works program; Mareesburg project environmental work to complete the legal analysis on the EIA and other
environmental studies and amendments; prospecting and assessment work in relation to Zandfontein, Crocette and
Spitzkop ore bodies; EIA and assessment work regarding a vertical furnace and pelletizer of chrome concentrate; the
update of other capital assessments upon completion of capital fundraising; care and maintenance with respect to the
underground portion of the CRM; and the potential effects of COVID-19 and any future measures taken by the
Government of South Africa and their impact on the Company and its business, operations, liquidity and cashflows.
These forward-looking statements are based on assumptions made by and information currently available to the
Company. Although management considers these assumptions to be reasonable based on information currently
available to it, they may prove to be incorrect. By their very nature, forward-looking statements involve inherent risks
and uncertainties and readers are cautioned not to place undue reliance on these statements as a number of factors
could cause actual results to differ materially from the beliefs, plans, objectives, expectations, estimates and intentions
expressed in such forward-looking statements. These factors include, but are not limited to, unanticipated problems
that may arise in the Company’s production processes, commodity prices, lower than expected grades and quantities
of resources, need for additional funding and availability of such additional funding on acceptable terms, economic
conditions, currency fluctuations, competition and regulations, legal proceedings and risks related to operations in
foreign countries.

All forward-looking statements in this press release are expressly qualified in their entirety by this cautionary statement,
the “Cautionary Statement on Forward-Looking Information” section contained in the Company’s most recent
Management’s Discussion and Analysis available under the Company’s profile on www.sedar.com. The forward-looking
statements in this press release are made as of the date they are given and, except as required by applicable securities
laws, the Company disclaims any intention or obligation, and does not undertake, to update or revise any forward-
looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise.
No stock exchange, securities commission or other regulatory authority has approved or disapproved the
information contained herein.

The Company has a primary listing on the Toronto Stock Exchange and a secondary listing on
the JSE Limited.

JSE Sponsor
PSG Capital